The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Azalea plant, botanically known as Rhododendron hybrida, an evergreen Azalea, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘RLH1-2P8’.
The new Azalea plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Long Creek, Oconee County, S.C. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact evergreen Azalea plants having large attractive flowers, good foliage retention during the winter, consistent summer reblooming qualities and cold hardiness.
The new Azalea plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventors in 1996, in Long Creek, Oconee County, S.C., of a proprietary selection of Rhododendron hybrida identified as code number RLH-1900-RP, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with Rhododendron hybrida ‘Watchet’, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Azalea plant was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Long Creek, Oconee County, S.C. in 2000.
Asexual reproduction of the new Azalea plant by semi-hardwood stem cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Long Creek, Oconee County, S.C. since 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Azalea plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.